Beginning
1 The Word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
2 Hear this, O elders! And listen, all you inhabitants of the land! Has there been such a thing in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children about it. And let your children tell it to their children, and their children to another generation.
4 That which was left by the gnawing locust the swarming locust has eaten. And the leftovers of the swarming locust the creeping locust has eaten. And the leftovers of the creeping locust the consuming locust has eaten.
5 Awake you drunkards! And weep and howl all you drinkers of wine because of the new wine. For it shall be pulled from your mouth.
6 “Yea, a nation comes upon My land, mighty and without number, whose teeth are like the teeth of a lion. And he has the jaws of a great lion.
7 “He has laid waste My vine and splinters the bark of My fig tree. He makes it bare and casts it down. Its branches are made white.”
8 Mourn like a virgin, girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9 The Meat Offering and the Drink Offering are cut off from the House of the LORD. The priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn.
10 The field is wasted. The land mourns. For the grain is destroyed. The new wine has dried up, and the oil has decayed.
11 Be ashamed, O farmers! Howl, O you vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished!
12 The vine has dried up. And the fig tree has decayed. The pomegranate tree and the palm tree and the apple tree, all the trees of the field, are withered. Surely, the joy has withered away from the sons of men.”
13 Gird yourselves and lament, you priests. Howl, you ministers of the Altar! Come! Lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God. For the Meat Offering and the Drink Offering are taken away from the House of your God.
14 Sanctify yourself a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders, all the inhabitants of the land, into the House of the LORD your God, and cry to the LORD,
15 “Alas!” For the day, for the day of the LORD is at hand! And it comes as a destruction from the Almighty.
16 Is not the meat cut off before our eyes — joy and gladness from the House of our God?
17 The seed is rotten under their clods. The storehouses are destroyed. The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.
18 How the beasts mourn! The herds of cattle pine away, because they have no pasture. And the flocks of sheep are destroyed.
19 O LORD! To You will I cry! For the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness. And the flame has burnt up all the trees of the field.
20 The beasts of the field also cry to You; for the river of waters have dried up. And the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
2 “Blow the trumpet in Zion! And shout on My Holy Mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the Day of the LORD has come. For it is at hand,
2 “a day of darkness, and of blackness, a day of clouds and obscurity. As the morning spread upon the mountains, so is there a great people, and mighty. There was none like it from the beginning, nor shall there be any after it, until the years of many generations.”
3 A fire devours before them. And behind them a flame burns up. The land is as the Garden of Eden before them. And behind them there is a desolate wilderness, so that nothing shall escape them.
4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses. And like the horsemen, so shall they run.
5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a mighty people prepared to the battle.
6 Before His Face shall the people tremble. All faces shall gather heat.
7 They shall run like strong men and go up to the wall like men of war. And every man shall go forward in his ways. And they shall not stay in their paths.
8 Nor shall one crowd another. Everyone shall walk in his path. And when they fall, they shall not be wounded.
9 They shall run to and fro in the city. They shall run upon the wall. They shall climb up upon the houses and enter in at the windows like the thief.
10 The Earth shall tremble before them. The heavens shall shake. The Sun and the Moon shall be dark. And the stars shall withdraw their shining.
11 And the LORD shall utter His voice before His host. For His host is very great. For he is strong who does His Word. For the Day of the LORD is great and very terrible. And who can abide it?
12 Therefore also, now the LORD says: “Turn yourself to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”
13 And tear your heart and not your clothes. And turn to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and relents from misery.
14 Who knows if He will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him, a Meat Offering and a Drink Offering to the LORD your God?
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sanctify a fast! Call a solemn assembly.
16 Gather the people. Sanctify the Congregation. Gather the elders. Assemble the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her bride chamber.
17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the Porch and the Altar. And let them say, “Spare Your people, O LORD! And do not give Your heritage over to reproach, so that the heathen would rule over them. Why should they say among the people, ‘Where is their God?’”
18 Then will the LORD be jealous over His land and spare His people.
19 Yea, the LORD will answer and say to His people: “Behold, I will send you grain and wine and oil. And you shall be satisfied with it. And I will no longer make you a reproach among the heathen.
20 “But I will remove the Northern army far away from you. And I will drive him into a barren and desolate land, with his face toward the eastern sea, and his back to the western sea. And his stink shall come up. And his corruption shall ascend because he has exalted himself.”
21 Do not fear, O land. Be glad and rejoice! For the LORD will do great things!
22 Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field. For the pastures of the wilderness are green. For the tree bears her fruit. The fig tree and the vine give their strength.
23 Be glad then, you children of Zion! And rejoice in the LORD your God! For He has given you the rain of righteousness. And He will cause the rain to come down for you, the first rain and the latter rain, in the first month.
24 And the barns shall be full of wheat. And the presses shall abound with wine and oil.
25 “And I will render you the years that the locust has eaten — the creeping locust and the consuming locust and the chewing locust — My great host which I sent among you.
26 “So you shall eat and be satisfied and praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt separately with you. And My people shall never be ashamed.
27 “You shall also know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and no other. And My people shall never be ashamed.
28 “And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions.
29 “And I will also pour My Spirit upon the servants, and upon the maids in those days.
30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the Earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
31 “The Sun shall be turned into darkness, and the Moon into blood, before the great and awesome Day of the LORD comes.
32 “But whoever shall call on the Name of the LORD shall be saved. For deliverance shall be on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, as the LORD has said, and in the Remnant whom the LORD shall call.”
3 “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 “I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for My people, and for My heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. And they parted My land.
3 “And they have cast lots for My people and have given the child for the harlot. And they sold the girl for wine, so that they might drink.
4 “Yea, and what have you to do with Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Philistia? Will you render Me a recompense? And if you recompense Me, I will swiftly and speedily render your recompense upon your head.
5 “For you have taken My silver and My gold and have carried My precious and pleasant things into your temples.
6 “Also, you have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the Grecians, so that you might send them far from their border.
7 “Behold, I will raise them out of the place where you have sold them and will render your reward upon your own head.
8 “And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah. And they shall send them to the Sabeans, to a people far away.” For the LORD has spoken it.
9 “Publish this among the Gentiles: ‘Prepare war! Wake up the mighty men! Let all the men of war draw near and come up.
10 ‘Break your plowshares into swords, and your scythes into spears. Let the weak say, “I am strong.”
11 ‘Assemble yourselves and come, all you heathen, and gather yourselves together all around.’ There shall the LORD cast down the mighty men.
12 “Let the heathen be awakened and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. For there I will sit to judge all the heathen all around.
13 “Put in your scythes, for the harvest is ripe. Come. Go down. For the winepress is full. Indeed, the winepresses run over, for their wickedness is great.”
14 O multitude! O multitude! Come into the valley of threshing! For the Day of the LORD is near in the valley of threshing!
15 The Sun and Moon shall be darkened. And the stars shall withdraw their light.
16 Also, the LORD shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem. And the heavens and the Earth shall shake. But the LORD will be the hope of His people and the strength of the children of Israel.
17 “So shall you know that I am the LORD your God, dwelling on Zion, My Holy Mountain. Then shall Jerusalem be holy. And no strangers shall go through her anymore.
18 “And on that day, the mountains shall drop down new wine. And the hills shall flow with milk. And all the rivers of Judah shall run with waters. And a fountain shall come forth from the House of the LORD and shall water the Valley of Shittim.
19 “Egypt shall be laid waste. And Edom shall be a desolate wilderness from the injuries of the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 “But Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem, from generation to generation.
21 “For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed. And the LORD will dwell in Zion.”
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